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Pakistan leaders' 'narrow escape' | Pakistan leaders' 'narrow escape' |
(10 minutes later) | |
Pakistan's top leaders were to have been in the Islamabad Marriott hotel when it was bombed - but changed venue at the last minute, officials say. | Pakistan's top leaders were to have been in the Islamabad Marriott hotel when it was bombed - but changed venue at the last minute, officials say. |
Interior Ministry head Rehman Malik said the president, prime minister and military chiefs should have been there. | Interior Ministry head Rehman Malik said the president, prime minister and military chiefs should have been there. |
He told journalists "it would have been a great catastrophe", but did not say why dinner plans were changed. | |
A suicide bomb devastated the hotel on Saturday killing at least 53 people and wounding more than 266. | A suicide bomb devastated the hotel on Saturday killing at least 53 people and wounding more than 266. |
'Entire leadership' | |
"The national assembly Speaker had arranged a dinner for the entire leadership - for the president, prime minister and armed services chiefs - at the Marriott that day," Mr Malik told reporters. | |
"The president and the prime minister changed the venue to the prime minister's house. The function was not held at the Marriott, thus the whole leadership was saved." | |
The bomb left a six metre (20ft) crater. It is believed to have been detonated in a lorry. | |
The attack came hours after President Zardari addressed parliament | |
Rescuers have been combing the wreckage for survivors and bodies. | |
Most of the dead were Pakistanis. One Vietnamese, a German and an American are also known to have died. | |
No one had admitted carrying out the attack, but the Pakistani Taleban are thought to be the most likely suspects. | |
Earlier on Monday, Pakistan's government said it would take targeted action against the militants, promising raids in some "hotspots" near the Afghan border. | |
Driver killed | |
Meanwhile Afghanistan's consul in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, has been kidnapped. | |
The consul, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, was in a car in a Peshawar suburb when it was attacked by six unidentified men, officials say. His driver died in the attack. |